High School Football Players May Have to Take it Easy in Practice

Rule makers for high school football in Texas are doing their best to protect players, and moved a step closer Tuesday to limiting full-contact practices during the regular season.

So the Panthers and Dragons and all of our favorite area teams may have to let up a little bit this fall.

The rules would not apply to spring practices or the fall two-a-days, but once the regular season kicks in, the guys would have to lay off of the hard tackles at practice. Is this a good thing?

It's not set in stone yet. The University Interscholastic League passed a recommendation yesterday in Austin that would limit the amount of full-contact, game-speed practice during the regular season to 90 minutes a week. That means "game-speed tackling and blocking to the ground" would be banned, and high school and middle school practices would be under the rule.

If the Texas Commissioner of Education approves it, the new rule would go into effect on August 1.